BioMed Central Page 1 of 2 (page number not for citation purposes) Journal of Hematology & Oncology Open Access Editorial Journal of hematology & oncology: A journal open to all Delong Liu Address: Associate Professor of Medicine, New York Medical College, Munger Pavilion 250, Valhalla, NY 10595, USA Email: Delong Liu - delong_liu@nymc.edu Editorial Paul Ehrlich prophesied "magic bullet" in early 1900 [1], but it was not until 1975 that Kohler and Milstein devel- oped the hybridoma technology [2]. Since then hematol- ogy and oncology have become closely intertwined and rapidly evolving fields. New findings from laboratory- based research are rapidly being turned into clinical appli- cations. Within less than a decade, targeted therapy has become a treatment of choice for many diseases, with imatinib and rituximab representing the many recent major breakthroughs in cancer therapy [3,4]. The growth of the internet has shrunk the world to a mouse click, yet the dissemination of new scientific find- ings is still very restricted. As a scientist and a clinician, I have to squeeze out time to publish new scientific find- ings and clinical observations. It almost always takes months to get a manuscript published. Frequently, the published articles are accessible only to those with sub- scriptions. Journal of Hematology & Oncology aims to serve as an international platform for sharing laboratory and clinical findings in an open access format among labora- tory scientists, physician scientists, hematologists and oncologists. A rapid turnaround time from submission to publication means that knowledge and new successes can be shared in real time. Rapid advances in molecular biology and the completion of genome mapping from "worm to man" have led to an explosive increase in discoveries of new genes and targets, which result in development of new drugs and new tech- nologies for diagnosis and therapy of medical disorders, especially for blood and cancer diseases. Studies of tyro- sine kinase oncogenes and signal transductions paved the way to the discoveries of tyrosine kinase inhibitors [5]. The "magic bullet" theory has finally become a reality in cancer therapy with the advent of novel drugs, such as gemtuzumab ozogamycin (mylotarg), denileukin diftitox (ontak), tositumomab (bexxar), and ibritumomab (zeva- lin), to name a few. Studies of angiogenesis and mono- clonal antibodies make it possible for a new modality of cancer therapy [6]. Not until recently, ubiquitin and heat- shock proteins were only familiar to scientists who are "mouse doctors", but not to "human doctors". However, proteasome inhibitors that target the ubiquinization- pathway have virtually revolutionized therapies for multi- ple myeloma in only a few years [7]. Epigenetic studies have led to the development of new drugs which have changed the lives of patients with myelodysplastic syn- drome [8]. Clinical trials are increasingly performed in many centers across the world. With all these rapid developments and findings, volume of information has grown enormously. However, many publications are in inaccessible places, and many more are not published until months later or not at all. A few top-rated journals in the field of hematology and oncol- ogy already exist. Many doctors and scientists from devel- oping countries can not afford to pay for the access to these expensive journals. Meanwhile, journals become more focused and increasingly specialized. Journal of Hematology & Oncology aims not to specialize, rather to broaden and provide a platform for information exchange for all studies related to blood and cancer. It aims to include, not to exclude, all studies from basic research, translational research, case reports, and clinical trials. This journal allows the authors to keep the copy- right so they can freely use and disseminate their articles as they please. All articles published in this journal are Published: 28 May 2008 Journal of Hematology & Oncology 2008, 1:1 doi:10.1186/1756-8722-1-1 Received: 23 May 2008 Accepted: 28 May 2008 This article is available from: http://www.jhoonline.org/content/1/1/1 © 2008 Liu; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Publish with BioMed Central and every scientist can read your work free of charge "BioMed Central will be the most significant development for disseminating the results of biomedical research in our lifetime." Sir Paul Nurse, Cancer Research UK Your research papers will be: available free of charge to the entire biomedical community peer reviewed and published immediately upon acceptance cited in PubMed and archived on PubMed Central yours — you keep the copyright Submit your manuscript here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/info/publishing_adv.asp BioMedcentral Journal of Hematology & Oncology 2008, 1:1 http://www.jhoonline.org/content/1/1/1 Page 2 of 2 (page number not for citation purposes) also archived in PubMed, PubMed Central, and other repositories. Therefore, this journal aims not to restrict, rather to make all published articles free and open to all. Acknowledgements I thank Drs. Zihai Li, Wenru Song, Karen Seiter, Ruirong Yuan, and Ms. Lisa Phelps for critically reviewing the manuscript. I am very grateful to my col- leagues, especially Drs. Tauseef Ahmed and William Frishman, for their kind support. References 1. Stone MJ: Monoclonal Antibodies-designer medical missiles. Lancet 2006, 368:48-49. 2. Köhler G, Milstein C: Continuous cultures of fused cells secret- ing antibody of predefined specificity. Nature 1975, 256:495-497. 3. Druker BJ, Tamura S, Buchdunger E, Ohno S, Segal GM, Fanning S, Zimmermann J, Lydon NB: Effects of a selective inhibitor of the Abl tyrosine kinase on the growth of Bcr-Abl positive cells. Nat Med 2:561-566. 4. Vose JM, Link BK, Grossbard ML, Czuczman M, Grillo-Lopez A, Gil- man P, Lowe A, Kunkel LA, Fisher RI: Phase II Study of Rituximab in Combination With CHOP Chemotherapy in Patients With Previously Untreated, Aggressive Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. J Clin Oncol 2001, 19(2):389-397. 5. Liu D, Wang L-H: Oncogenes, Protein Tyrosine Kinases, and Signal Transduction. J Biomed Sci 1994, 1:65-82. 6. Folkman J: Tumor angiogenesis: therapeutic implications. New England Journal of Medicine 1971, 285:1182-1186. 7. Kyle RA, Rajkumar SV: Multiple Myeloma. NEJM 2004, 351:1860-1873. 8. Silverman LR, Demakos EP, Peterson BL, Kornblith AB, Holland JC, Odchimar-Reissig R, Stone RM, Nelson D, Powell BL, DeCastro CM, Ellerton J, Larson RA, Schiffer CA, Holland J: Randomized control- led trial of azacitidine in patients with the myelodysplastic syndrome: a study of the Cancer and Leukemia Group B. J Clin Oncol 2002, 20:2429-2440. . Central Page 1 of 2 (page number not for citation purposes) Journal of Hematology & Oncology Open Access Editorial Journal of hematology & oncology: A journal open to all Delong Liu Address:. can not afford to pay for the access to these expensive journals. Meanwhile, journals become more focused and increasingly specialized. Journal of Hematology & Oncology aims not to specialize, rather. in inaccessible places, and many more are not published until months later or not at all. A few top-rated journals in the field of hematology and oncol- ogy already exist. Many doctors and scientists